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Interview: Solitaire Townsend on how to be an office activist

Who is the workplace warrior at your work? Chances are it’s the happiest person at their desk. We asked Style’s eco-guardian Fleur Britten to investigate this growing band of happy heroes

Lukasz Wierzbowski

The Sunday Times, October 8 2017, 12:01am

Rebecca Garner, 24, is a children’s-wear designer for Marks & Spencer. Her side hustle, though, is raising awareness of inequality, and since June she has recruited 20 Marks & Spencer volunteers to collaborate on taking action. “This work is an extension of my personality,” she says, “and it hugely increases my job satisfaction. I know I’ve done my bit.”

Meet the office activists. Perhaps they’ve launched a carpool scheme (with karaoke!) or encouraged volunteering in office hours. Maybe they’ve reduced the staff canteen’s reliance on single-use plastic, or simply asked how the business could make a difference. If Solitaire Townsend, author of The Happy Hero, is correct, they may have found the secret to a long and happy life. Become an office activist, she says,…

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